Kira Yukimura (thunderkitsune) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2022-03-19 15:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | !completed gdoc, lydia martin (needstoscream), ~2022 march, ~~kira yukimura (thunderkitsune) |
WHO: Kira Yukimura and Lydia Martin
WHAT: Exploring
WHERE: Ancient Japan Portal
WHEN: Today
WARNINGS: Nah
STATUS: Completed Gdoc
Back home, Kira had never been to Japan. She’d never actually been outside the United States, except that one time her parents had taken her on a vacation to Niagara Falls. She certainly didn’t know anything about ancient Japan. Except, that wasn’t exactly true. While Kira the person had no knowledge, the Kitsune that was also Kira did. It knew the language. It knew the culture. It obviously also knew the mythology, being a part of it. And since her time with the Skin Walkers, and the true melding of herself and the Fox Spirit, if it knew those things, so did she.
So she was strangely fascinated to visit this portal, and also trying not to freak out at the fact that she was traveling back in time. So cool.
She had arrived at the portal a little early, and Lydia wasn’t here quite yet, so she sat on a bench and pulled out her phone to see if Lydia had texted. She hadn’t, so she figured she’d be there in a few minutes. In the meantime, she pulled up the wikipedia page on ancient Japan and started reading, just in case.
***
Lydia wasn’t sure what to wear for ancient Japan. She settled for a knee-length skirt with leggings underneath and a blouse. She did put her hair up in a bun since she already anticipated people staring at the colour of her hair.
She saw Kira waiting and offered a small wave as she approached and then a smile once she had closed the distance. Lydia had to figure that Kira was excited and she couldn’t blame her. “Ready? I did a little reading on the language, but apart from directions and a few basics, it’ll all be on you I think.” Lydia might be good, but she wasn’t that good.
–
“Yeah, great, all on me,” she gave a thumbs up and smiled, trying to look confident about that and failing miserably. “I mean, I think I can do it. I spoke Japanese with one of the people here and it was easy. But that was written. I mean, maybe I can read it but not speak it?” Her time with the Skin Walkers had made her a more confident fighter, that was for sure, but when it came to self-confidence, she still had a ways to go.
“But…I guess we’re here, so we go, right?” She stood, putting her phone in her back pocket. She was wearing her sword as a belt. Not that she really anticipated trouble, but it was good to be prepared if it did happen.
***
Lydia knew Kira had some self confidence issues, probably even with her time with the Skin Walkers. Madison would probably do wonders for confidence eventually Lydia thought considering what happened under the Dome. “I’ll help out where I can. At the very least I can smile and look pretty. That gets women pretty far a lot of the time.” She used it more often than not and she had a brain.
“Do you have an idea what you want to see or do? Or does your kitsune?” Lydia followed, walking toward the portal which was at London Starr Metals this time. “Can you feel a pull to the portal or anything?”
–
“Specifically? No…but I think once we get inside there are things I’m going to be drawn to. Right now the Kitsune just wants to see ancient Japan. Like…a lot.” She knew that, but she didn’t know what exact things it wanted to see. She didn’t mind, though. She kind of wanted to see it too, because she’d felt more ‘one’ with the kitsune than she had in a long time.
“As long as nobody expects me to walk down stairs at the same time,” she said, a self-deprecating smile crossing her lips.
“But, I mean, it should be fun. Especially since I can kind of speak Japanese now.”
***
She nodded. “I was drawn to a portal once… it had zombies in it.” Somehow she thought the idea of being drawn to places in Japan was far better than anything Banshee related, but Lydia also knew all the things that Kira had to go through with being a Kitsune. None of them really got off easy, they just had their own versions of hard.
“Well I think you should definitely buy yourself a Kimono if we can find one for sale.” She wasn’t sure how it worked in Ancient Japan. “I’m sure you look ridiculously stunning in one.” She paused, then looked down at Kira’s shoes, thinking of her stairs comments. “Maybe with some back up flip flops in case the traditional shoes are a bit too much.” They looked like stilts and Lydia could imagine that meant it was hard to walk in.
–
“I can do without the zombies. Like, totally without them.” She’d never fought zombies before, but she really was pretty happy with the monsters she’d already met, thank you very much. She was pretty sure they’d creep her out so much she couldn’t stand it.
“Really?” She’d never worn anything like that, although she’d definitely looked at them. She didn’t want to deny her heritage or anything like that, but she’d always wanted to be defined as American before she became a Kitsune. She still was American, of course, that would never change. She’d been born there. But she was willing to give the Kitsune a little too, and admit that she was also Japanese. And Korean.
“Back up flip flops would be a good idea, I think. I’m clumsy enough in regular shoes.”
***
"What better place to get a kimono than ancient Japan, even if you never wear it. There's a lot of people who display them as art pieces too." She shrugged, but she thought it'd be a missed opportunity. "Except for Harry Potter, apparently the portals have never repeated themselves." Which was Lydia's way of saying Kira might regret it if she didn't do all the things she wanted.
Walking through the portal was always a weird experience, but ancient Japan was a lot like Pompeii. It was obvious they were in a whole new world and not just a forest or some elaborate theme park. The air was a lot cleaner too. Lydia took a deep breath. "I'll probably want to sketch a few things if we have some nice places."
–
The portal was definitely an odd experience and Kira was very glad when she found herself on the other side. Yikes! Of course, she’d been through scarier, but this was a weirdness all its own.
The first thing she noticed on the other side was the air, which had so little pollution in it! Having lived in New York and the Bay Area, she’d never lived in a place where the air was this clear. The pre-Industrial world apparently had some perks.
“Yeah. I mean, who knows when we’ll be able to come back here, right? I mean, it’s not like you can book a cruise to Ancient Japan back home. I’m going to make the most of it since we’re here.”
She reached out and grabbed Lydia’s hand.
“Come on, let’s go to the town!”
***
Kira’s excitement was a little contagious and Lydia smiled, taking Kira’s hand and letting the girl lead. Booking a cruise to places like Ancient Japan sounded like good business planning if they could ever figure out time travel. Probably for the best the human race didn’t for a while.
The streets had so much to look at that Lydia had to remind herself not to look like a tourist or look like she was in a museum or something. “This place is beautiful.” She had seen pictures in books, but this was different. “And the food wherever and whatever it is, smells good already.”
She paused, eyeing a man in armour walking by. “Not to mention there’s some hotties here.”
—
All that Lydia said was 100% true. She found the place looked a little like she thought it would, but also really different. She supposed that made sense. And yes there were definitely some hotties here. Not that she was thinking about that. Not that she couldn’t think about that. She and Scott broke up, after all. The thought made her blush, though.
“It is beautiful.” She knew she looked like an out-of-towner, the way she was looking at anything and everything, but honestly she probably only got to see this once, and she wanted to see it all.
“And I like the armor.”
***
“Oh yes. It’s the armour I was looking at.” She looked at Kira with one of those ‘of course that’s what you focused on’ looks. The armour, in her opinion, hid some of the nicer assets of a man, like the ass. Probably to Kira’s benefit, Lydia was on her best behaviour here since she was dating Theo. She wouldn’t be looking for anyone to sleep with - even if it’d be entirely interesting to see how a guy from ancient Japan could handle himself between the sheets. She would flirt though.
“That looks like an inn. Those places usually had food and drink too. Did you want to check it out?”
–
“I mean…I guess the guy was okay too,” she blushed. And she felt guilty for it almost immediately. She guessed it was taking her some time to get over the feeling that she was dating Scott. Hopefully it would happen soon, before she missed all the other hot guys here. Or maybe she’d just take a dating break until she got better. Who knew.
“Yeah, definitely. I could definitely use something to drink and - “
She stopped suddenly, cocking her head as a rather normal looking little fox came their way and stopped in front of her.
“Um…hello?”
***
Lydia was going to make it her mission to help Kira loosen up and be okay with liking other people again. Everyone deserve to be happy and Kira was definitely included in that.
There were things Lydia expected to be doing in Ancient Japan and things she was not and stopping for a fox was not one of them. It was beautiful, though, and Lydia couldn’t think of a time she was ever so close to one. The more she stood there, though, the more she wondered if there was more to the eye. She looked at her friend. “Kira?”
–
Kira couldn’t see the fox talk, but she could hear it. In her mind. And she recognized it. It was a Kitsune too, just one that didn’t take human form. She kneeled down to it, so they could be closer to being on the same level, and smiled at it.
“I’m Kira,” she said in English, then remembered and let her Kitsune take over her language. "私の名前はキラです。 遠い未来から雷キツネです。 会えてうれしいです。"
The fox sat on its haunches, its eyes glowing orange, like Kira’s sometimes did.
"遠い未来から? それならあなたはこの辺りの道を知りません."
"いいえ、私たちはただ探索していて、この旅館を試してみようと思っていました。"
"この旅館には行きたくない。 彼はエールに水をやり、充電しすぎます。 来てください、そして私はあなたにもっと安いエールとより良い食べ物を持ったより良い
Kira looked back at Lydia.
“He wants us to follow him. He says he can show us a better inn.”
She raised her eyebrows and shrugged, then started following the little red fox into town, hoping Lydia would follow.
***
Watching Kira have a conversation with a fox in Japanese was a new experience for Lydia. She watched, quiet, and felt like an outsider looking in. A part of her wondered if she should even be witnessing this exchange at all.
Of course, then Kira explained what the fox was talking about and Lydia blinked. It had sounded much more important with the Japanese and the glowing eyes. The whole situation made Lydia smile wryly to herself.
“Well if he knows a better place, we’d be fools not to listen.” Probably a kitsune wouldn’t lead another kitsune into a trap, right?
As they walked, Lydia leaned in a little, her voice just a little softer than normal. “Is this what your ancestors would have looked like?”
–
Kira was kind of surprised by it all too, and it showed in how wide her eyes were when she stood. She clearly hadn’t been anticipating anything like this.
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, he knows the place.”
As they followed after the fox, she looked over at Lydia.
“I…think so?” She wasn’t completely sure, but from what her mother and the kitsune within her had taught her, it made sense.
***
Picturing Kira as this fox was interesting. Now Lydia had to wonder if, much like how a werewolf or werecoyote could turn into the actual animal if Kira's kind could ever actually turn into a fox.
They followed the fox for a while until they came upon another building that looked and sounded more lively which at least was promising. Lydia let her mind come back to the present. "You should ask him if there are more of him. See if there's anything you can learn from them while you're here. If you want, obviously." Lydia would just kill to meet some banshees who knew what the hell was going on.
–
Kira was thinking the same thing. She loved her Kitsune powers, and they were enough, but what if she could actually turn into a cute little fox? She’d have to look into that when they got back home.
“Yeah,” she said, watching him. “I will.”
Switching back into Japanese, she conversed for a few moments with the fox. Then she turned to Lydia.
“He says there are. That there are many of them around. Some are less social than others. I also asked about…Nogitsunes.” She paused. There were so many terrible memories wrapped around that word. “There are none of them here. At least, not within a hundred miles or so. And he says he’ll answer the rest of my questions if we buy him some wine.”
***
"Which is good to know. I'll tell that to Stiles." She paused. "Will they be okay if he used to be possessed by one?" She hoped so. She didn't want him blindsided by some angry portal kitsune.
"I guess we'll having to buy him some wine then. Never thought I'd buy a fox wine, but since meeting Scott I've done a lot of things I never thought I'd do so I guess I can just add it to the list."
–
“Um…I don’t think they’ll care as long as it’s not in him now?” She wished she knew more. She hoped she could learn more from this little fox. Maybe it would give them the answers she’d sought for so long.”
Yes, yes, buying wine for a fox was super odd, but hey, they’d done weirder things.
“Come on. Let’s see what it can tell us.”
And she pulled Lydia into the pub, dying to know more about what she was from the only other Kitsune she’d ever met other than her mother.
***